“The Diocese of Sheffield believes, along with the wider Church of England, that conversion therapy is unethical, potentially harmful and has no place in the modern world.”
Bishop Pete Wilcox
Conversion practices in a church setting
The Diocese of Sheffield takes all allegations of misconduct and abuse seriously. There are circumstances in which an individual or group of people’s conduct within a church setting may not be illegal but might still be inappropriate. To this end we have robust procedures and policies in place. Even so, we can never be complacent. Survivors, or anyone with information about misconduct in church or church-related abuse, must always feel free to come forward knowing that they will be listened to.
If you are reading this as someone who feels you are currently, or have been, subjected to conversion therapy in a church setting, support is available. You can make contact with us directly or via a third party such as a friend, relative or other professional. Please be assured that your information will not be shared without your permission unless there is an immediate safeguarding risk to individuals.
Also, if you are concerned that you have witnessed conversion therapy through church activities we want to hear from you.
The safeguarding team has three safeguarding advisers who can all be contacted at safeguarding@sheffield.anglican.org. Individual contact details are also available if preferred but please remember that we could be on leave or away from the office:
- Siân Checkley 07741 013775 (Monday – Thursday)
- Elina Penttila 07871 796682 (Monday – Friday)
- Rachel Tankard 07874 859062 (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9am – 3pm)
We are committed to supporting anyone who contacts us in the way that is most helpful for each individual, and we will work with you to establish and access the support you need which may include counselling or therapy. You can tell us how and when you would like us to contact you or that you do not want any further contact from us, and we will respect your wishes.
We want to learn from past mistakes, make genuine and appropriate apologies and improve our safeguarding practice. In line with current safeguarding policy we will seek to learn lessons from what has happened in the past.
You can explore some support services available to you on our Victim and Survivor Support section.
Below you can read and explore some of the context and wider work that is taking place, within the national church, and locally, in relation to conversion practices.
Church of England
In July 2017, the General Synod of the national Church of England agreed:
That this Synod: (a) endorse the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK of November 2015, signed by The Royal College of Psychiatrists and others, that the practice of gay conversion therapy has no place in the modern world, is unethical, potentially harmful and not supported by evidence; (b) call upon the Church to be sensitive to, and to listen to, contemporary expressions of gender identity; (c) and call on the government to ban the practice of Conversion Therapy.
There is a briefing and reflection paper available to read from the Church of England (external link).
The House of Bishop’s safeguarding practice guidance document, ‘Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults’, which all clergy, lay workers and PCCs must have due regard to, specifically states in section 4.1 “For the avoidance of any doubt, and in line with the decision of the General Synod of the Church of England in July 2017, it is made clear that nobody, whether a member of a Diocesan Deliverance Ministry Team or otherwise, is permitted to use any form of deliverance ministry in pursuit of changing or influencing somebody’s sexual orientation. This applies whether or not the individual concerned wishes to receive such ministry. Individuals asking for such ministry must be treated with compassion and understanding, and should be referred both to pastoral support and to links to appropriate resources.”
Work with Sheffield City Council
The Diocese of Sheffield has recently been represented in a Task & Finish group convened by Sheffield City Council to specifically consider ‘so called’ conversion practices. This group created a position statement setting out the views of Sheffield Children and Adults safeguarding partnership regarding conversion practices with recommendations on how this work can be implemented. The Diocese of Sheffield fully endorses this statement which can be found as word document on the Sheffield Adult Safeguarding Partnership website.